Scotland's richest man yesterday lost his legal bid to halt moves by Dobbies Garden Centre and its majority shareholder Tesco from raising £150 million from shareholders by doubling the number of shares in issue.

Sir Tom Hunter, who owns a 29.2 per cent stake in Dobbies, had asked the Court of Session in Edinburgh to intervene, claiming that the move was designed to force him and other minority shareholders out of the business.

Judge Lord Glennie turned down a petition by Sir Tom's company, West Coast Capital Limited, for interim interdict to stop the Dobbies board putting the proposal to a vote at its annual meeting this month.

Sir Tom is now faced with a legal bill for the expenses of the action.

Dobbies announced last month that it was launching an open offer, stating that it needs about £50million to expand the business, and about £100million to pay off a loan from Tesco, which has offered to underwrite the offer.

The Ayrshire-based billionaire has a choice of spending almost £44 million to maintain the value of his stake or seeing his holding in the company drop to less than 15 per cent.

He claimed that the move was designed to force minority shareholders to sell-up to Tesco, giving the supermarket chain an even greater share.

Dobbies and Tesco maintained that the money was needed to fund proposed expansion and to repay debts, and claimed that Sir Tom was more concerned about his rival business interests as owner of Dobbies's main competitor, Wyevale Garden Centres, than those of fellow Dobbies shareholders.

Lord Glennie said there was not enough evidence to suggest that Dobbies or Tesco was acting improperly or unfairly. In his written opinion, Lord Glennie said: “My conclusion is that WCC have not established a prima facie case that the board of directors is acting in an improper manner towards them or that the conduct of the company's affairs is or threatens to be unfairly prejudicial to their interests”.

Lord Glennie continued: “By granting interim interdict I would be interfering with [Dobbies's] ability to compete with its competitors, including a competitor in which WCC has a significant interest. The court should not be used to further the interests of one or other party in a commercial tussle.”

Tesco became the majority shareholder in Dobbies with 65.5 per cent last year after WCC blocked its take-over by buying almost a third of the company. Three Tesco employees were appointed to the board of six.

Sir Tom's stake enables him to block key resolutions at annual meetings and extraordinary general meetings and prevent Tesco from delisting Dobbies.

Richard Keen, QC, for WCC, said there had been a “degree of confusion” in the minds of some of Dobbies directors as to whether to act in the interests of Dobbies or Tesco, and questioned which other acquisitions, aside from the £8million purchase of Sandyholm Garden Centre at Crossford in Lanarkshire, had been identified.

Dobbies said it was also working on two acquisitions, worth £45million and £20million respectively, and claimed that it would lose the lucrative underwriting offer from Tesco if the bid was blocked. Sir Tom was branded by Dobbies's legal team a “disappointed suitor” who was acting more like a competitor. They claimed the only option was for WCC to sell its shares.

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